|
 |
Pimsleur - Spanish | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| marklewis1234 Newbie United States Joined 5124 days ago 32 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 12 23 June 2010 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Hi,
I'm thinking of buying a Pimsleur Spanish programme, as I've heard its very good. However, from looking online, I see there are quite a few different Pimsleur programmes available. I was thinking of buying the "Spanish complete course", see the link - http://www.pimsleur.co.uk/catalogue/title/spanish_ia_complet e_course/1860 Has anyone used this? If so can you provide any positive/negative feedback? Many Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5137 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 2 of 12 23 June 2010 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Pimsleur is pretty good. I used it up to lesson 16 before I moved to Michel Thomas, which I like better (but you might not) because he moves along a little faster.
I'd recommend going to your public library and trying MT and Pimsleur to see which you like better, or at least getting a demo from each to try. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Warp3 Senior Member United States forum_posts.asp?TID= Joined 5345 days ago 1419 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Korean, Japanese | Message 3 of 12 23 June 2010 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Pimsleur Advantages:
- Audio-only (I used it while commuting to/from work) - Sticks well in your memory (due to the repetition spacing) - Helps with learning the correct accent Pimsleur Disadvantages: - Cost ($500-$1200 for the full set, depending on where you buy it) - Low overall vocabulary quantity (even for the full 100-lesson course) - No written transcript (which I personally think would be very useful) I went through lessons 1-90 (Comprehensive I, II and III) and was happy with what I learned, but the materials aren't cheap. The place I bought mine was http://www.cateeslanguageworld.com/ which is a good bit cheaper than Amazon and *way* cheaper than buying direct from Simon & Schuster. However, like John said, check your public library first. If they have them, then no point in shelling out the cash when you can just check them out from the library instead. I have listened to the 1-hr demo of Michel Thomas Spanish and it is a *very* different type of course than Pimsleur, so definitely try both to see which style you prefer. Pimsleur Demos - http://www.cateeslanguageworld.com/pimsleur/samples.php Michel Thomas Demos - http://www.michelthomas.co.uk/soundclips.htm I've recently moved onto Assimil's Spanish With Ease (after finishing Pimsleur Spanish Comp III) and, while it can't be done audio-only like Pimsleur (the audio CDs in Assimil are in the target language only), you get a *lot* more information for a much lower price than Pimsleur (109-lessons with far more vocab than Pimsleur for $33 on Amazon currently): http://www.amazon.com/dp/2700510704/ However, keep in mind that Assimil is primarily designed for continental Spanish (i.e. Spanish as spoken in Spain) so some of the pronuncation and vocabulary differs a bit from that of Latin American or Mexican Spanish. Pimsleur focuses more on Latin American and Mexican Spanish instead. This actually makes them work pretty well as a set, though, since you get input from both common types of Spanish that way. (I recall Michel Thomas mentioning some of the pronunciation differences in the 1-hr demo, but I haven't done the full course, so I don't know which regional variant his course biases.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5487 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 4 of 12 24 June 2010 at 9:52am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I've used Pimsleur as well, but have always borrowed it from either a library or a
friend. I think it's a good program as long as it's free/affordable for you. More specifically, it gives beginners a nice confident boost before they move on to more substantive programs. By default, that means you'll see very limited gains if you use it (but as a beginner, you might not be aware of this until much later). If you're looking for alternatives, try starting off by watching episodes of Destinos (an educational series) and then moving on to something such as Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lionel22 Newbie United States Joined 5076 days ago 9 posts - 12 votes | Message 5 of 12 25 June 2010 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Check Amazon marketplace, you can get most courses brand new for $120-$160. Also, PimsleurAudio sells the courses in digital format. The complete series is $359! Libraries can be good too but the two I've used only had very old courses (one was missing a CD making the whole set useless) and they only had the first level for most languages. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5154 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 6 of 12 26 June 2010 at 4:47am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Pimsleur Spanish I've tried only the first track and it's quite good and easy
understandable. It doesn't teach the kind of Spanish I am around (Mexican Spanish). But the Spanish in Spain. There is no transcripts so what I had to do was go to http://translate.google.com and type it in English -> Spanish. Most of the time it will give me what they are saying or I typed translate <sentence> to Spanish. Some how I got different responses. Do it that a way and then write it down and when you are done you can use it later for review and what not. With both Pimsleur and MT. You will still be a beginner from what I hear (yes even after Pimsleur Spanish III). Due to the lack of vocabulary words. But it is more than Michel Thomas'. I would go to Pimsleur Spanish 1-3 -> MT -> maybe Assimil? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| joebelt Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6143 days ago 51 posts - 68 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 7 of 12 26 June 2010 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
It depends which version you buy! They have have 100 lessons in Latin American Spanish and 30 lessons in Castilian Spanish. I just started the Latin American course and as usual find it great to start my studies. PS: you might want to reconsider taking notes while doing the course, it's really going to work against your success according to all their guidelines. Have you searched online for a transcript that you can later use for review if you need it? By writing the transcript the first time you do the lesson, you are going to jeopardize your success. Maybe do each lesson twice in that case, once to let the method work its magic and then a second time, to write down some notes. Has anyone else tried this? PS2: iTunes Store for Pimsleur is great! Much cheaper than what Warp3 quotes above and just loads onto my iPhone. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5154 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 8 of 12 26 June 2010 at 2:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
In my book it says not to write down anything. I have tried to find transcripts but no luck as the ones I did find were dead. Was trying to find some for the German course, Spanish and French. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
